Although desirable in terms of taste, excess intake of high calorie sugars, such as sucrose (table sugar), has long been associated with an increase in diet-related health issues, such as obesity. This worrying trend has caused consumers to become increasingly aware of the importance of adopting a healthier lifestyle and reducing the level of high calorie sugars in their diet.
In recent years, there has been a movement towards the development of substitutes for high calorie sugars, with a particular focus on the development of low or zero-calorie sweeteners. An ideal replacement for a high calorie sugar would be a sweetener that has the same desirable taste characteristics, feel and temporal profile as sucrose, but which also has low or no calories. Aiming to meet this growing need, the market has been flooded with possible candidates for a sugar replacement. Unfortunately, however, many of the low or zero calorie sugar substitutes offered on the market lack one or all of the necessary characteristics, and often exhibit bitterness or off-taste. Therefore, many of the proposed sugar substitutes available are not an ideal replacement for high calorie sugars.
An alternative solution to the replacement of all high calorie sugars in certain food products is the blending of high calorie sugars with a low or zero-calorie sweetener. These blends allow for the reduction in the amount of high calorie sugars that need to be used in a food product, while retaining the same level of sweetness. It has also been found that such blends can work even when the amount of the low or zero-calorie sweetener is used below the level at which it would provide a sweet taste when it is given alone. Similarly to low or zero calorie sugar substitutes, these blends can suffer from the problem of having a bitter or off-taste in comparison to high calorie sugars.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved sweetener composition that can be used in a variety of products and overcomes the temporal profile issues discussed above.